New runway for Malaga airport tipped to create a tourism take-off

A SECOND runway has been officially opened at Malaga airport doubling the capacity of the already bustling transport hub.

The new runway was inaugurated by the Minister for Development, Ana Pastor, who said a ‘tourist trap city like Malaga is more of a city with an airport of this calibre’.

As many as 65-70 flights will now be coordinated per hour at the airport compared to just 37 flights per hour before.

Construction of the runway began in 2007 and it will now be able to accommodate the latest generation planes such as the Airbus 380 and the Boeing 747.

These efforts to modernise the city come at the expense of the San Pedro Alcantara crossing which will need to be relocated underground despite its vital importance in facilitating traffic into the city.

The total cost of the project has been calculated at more than €400 million but it is hoped the wave of tourism it will bring will provide an economic boost to the region.

“These efforts to modernise the city come at the expense of the San Pedro Alcantara crossing which will need to be relocated underground despite its vital importance in facilitating traffic into the city.” Do we have any idea what this sentence means ?

Apologies for my selfishness, but as a regular California-Andalucia traveler, I hate wasting time and money transferring at London’s overcrowded, overpriced, undercleaned airports, and I love the idea of new, direct jumbo flights into Malaga. For a while now, we’ve been seeing airline ads in the US touting upcoming direct Malaga flights.

Gatwick Airport London has some 47 runway movements per hour in summer (2010) between 0500 & 2359hrs on one runway. Is Malaga Airport anywhere near that capacity? Could not an extension have been made to the existing one runway at less cost than the build of a new runway?
It sounds as if this new runway was at unnecessary expense when Spain and Andalucia were and are in difficult financial times.

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